Putin-Zelensky meeting possible – Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be open to a meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky once all the necessary preparations have been completed by delegations from the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Zelensky has claimed that substantial negotiations with Russia are only possible if he and Putin are directly involved. Moscow maintains that Zelensky’s legitimacy is in doubt and that a meeting must only come after a peace deal is broadly agreed by the two parties.
Peskov reiterated Moscow’s stance during a regular press briefing, stressing that a Putin-Zelensky summit can only come “after the necessary work on the expert level is done, and sufficient distance is crossed.”
Zelensky, whose presidential term expired last year, remains in power despite provisions in the Ukrainian Constitution which require the transfer of power to the speaker of parliament in such a scenario. The country’s legislation forbids elections under martial law and offers emergency extensions of terms for elected lawmakers, but not the president.
Russia considers Zelensky’s disputed status an internal Ukrainian matter, but has argued that the legality of any international treaty he signs could be challenged as a result.
The Ukrainian leader has claimed that Putin’s failure to talk with him directly proves that Moscow does not seek peace, and that Kiev’s foreign backers should therefore continue to supply weapons and ramp up sanctions against Russia.
Ukrainian diplomats have indicated that their government agreed to lower-level direct peace talks with Russia earlier this year – which Zelensky suspended in 2022 – to avoid the perception in the West that Kiev was an obstacle to a truce. Three rounds of negotiations have been held in Istanbul since May, leading to several prisoner swaps and the repatriation of the remains of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers recovered by Russian forces on the battlefield.
